This disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine, and more particularly to a gas turbine engine component and a core assembly for defining internal cooling features within a completed component.
Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. In general, during operation, air is pressurized in the compressor section and is mixed with fuel and burned in the combustor section to generate hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases flow through the turbine section, which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to power the compressor section and other gas turbine engine loads.
Due to exposure to hot combustion gases, some gas turbine engine components include an internal cooling scheme that routes cooling air through the part. For example, the internal cooling scheme may define multiple hollow passages through which the cooling air may be circulated. Thermal energy is transferred from the component to the airflow as the cooling air passes through the cooling scheme to cool the component.
Some components, such as airfoils, are typically molded parts. The internal cooling passages required to communicate cooling air through the part are typically formed using core assemblies that are over-molded during a casting or other molding process to define the hollow passages inside the component.